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Hello, It’s Me. Amy’s Dexcom.

Due to last Monday being a nationally recognized holiday celebrating Martin Luther King, I received the day off from work and spent the day with whom else? My momma! Together, we did a lot of our favorite things which included a lot of eating, going to the Nordstrom Rack, and taking an (extra-long) nap. Does that sound like a great day off or what?

During lunch at Riverside’s finest – El Torito (insert wink face here) – my mom had looked her at phone and then quickly at me. With a smile, she said something along the lines of, “Honey, you better eat some more chips.” She receives notifications on her iPhone when my blood sugar is trending too low via my Dexcom 4 Continuous Glucose Monitor, which is both a blessing and a curse. With a sugar level of 49 and an arrow down (meaning that my blood sugar is still fiercely dropping), my “followers” are then alerted. It’s one thing to be with me (like my mom was that day) because she knows I am OK and have carbs entering me. It’s the other times when my Dexcom followers are not with me, I often feel guilty. I think last night my followers received 10+ notifications of dangerous sugar alerts.

No one ever plans to get low blood sugar. Being a Type 1 Diabetic for numerous years now, I still get lows when I think I won’t. What is unfortunate now is I don’t get the symptoms of low blood sugar like I used to – sweats, shakiness, rapid heartbeat, and irritability (well, I guess I still get irritable for other reasons). I didn’t know this until recently; however, the more “lows” you get, the less your body reacts to them. Five years ago, whenever I got below 60 when sleeping, I would always wake up an intense sweat as if I just completed the hardest workout of my life! Now? Nothing happens. Luckily today, this is when my Dexcom comes in and speaks up with a loud (annoying) beep that sounds nothing like Adele (see title above). But you know what? Those beeps are music to any diabetic’s ears!